Editorial: May Illinois' fourth felonious governor be its final one

Tuesday

Jun 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMJun 28, 2011 at 5:40 AM

So Rod Blagojevich is one corrupt cat who does not own nine lives after all.

So Rod Blagojevich is one corrupt cat who does not own nine lives, after all.

More than two and a half years after federal authorities first arrested him at his Chicago home and following two trials, the already disgraced and impeached former governor was found guilty Monday on 17 of 20 counts against him for the likes of fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion and solicitation of bribes, including the most serious involving his attempt to sell or trade a U.S. Senate seat. It was a stunningly different outcome from a year ago, when another jury deadlocked on 23 of 24 counts against him. On top of his conviction in 2010 for lying to the FBI, that's 18 felonies.

Suffice it to say, Rod Blagojevich is likely looking at a long jail term. Nothing "(expletive) golden" about that.

This jury simply didn't buy that the Blagojevich they heard on wiretaps was just thinking out loud, guilty of nothing more than a profane, hyperactive tongue with no intention of following through on that rhetoric; or simply engaging in horse trading of the kind that is common in politics; or merely a victim himself of all-powerful government overreach. What they obviously saw, despite what one juror described as his "personable" nature, was a politician of the most corrupt sort: committing crimes against democracy, putting Illinois government - state legislation, state grants, state appointments - up for sale to the highest bidders, shaking down even a children's hospital for campaign cash before authorizing additional state funding for those who treat sick kids.

Not even seven days of personal testimony on the stand - a departure from the first trial - could undo the damage Blagojevich did to himself in those secretly taped phone conversations. Prosecutors obviously learned something from the previous trial, keeping it much simpler this time around, concentrating on him and no one else, directly linking his own words with the charges against him with overhead visuals. Just because he wasn't successful in most of those efforts did not make them any less criminal, they argued. "The crime is the plan," prosecutors maintained. This conclusion has provided a measure of vindication for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who after a long run of successes in court took his share of grief after the first Blagojevich setback and his decision - the right one, regardless of the result - to re-try him. Given some of the other high-profile names mentioned in connection with this case, he may not be done. There's an entire political culture in Illinois in need of additional scrubbing.

This second time around provided less of a circus atmosphere, owing in part to a different defense team - on taxpayers' dime this time - and perhaps a public that just didn't have as much appetite for all the antics yet again. Indeed, the verdict did accomplish one thing we haven't witnessed before: It shut Blagojevich up, made the swagger vanish.

A psychologist might have a field day with Blagojevich - the seeming martyr complex, the delusions of grandeur, the narcissism. He may sincerely have convinced himself that he was always operating on behalf of "the people," but any kind of objective analysis shows that his aims were overwhelmingly selfish, his abilities on behalf of that constituency - by his own former legal team's admission - mediocre, at best. In any case, he's competent enough to know the difference between right and wrong. In many ways he is a tragic figure, in way over his head, rationalizing every act, still not getting it and perhaps incapable of doing so, yet it is impossible to muster much sympathy for him. He's a 54-year-old man, and every last bit of this was self-inflicted. It's a shame for his family, whom he let down, along with the citizens of the state he once governed.

Yet enough of the latter to matter share in that blame for elevating Blagojevich not once but twice to a position he had no business occupying, even as ethical questions swirled about him.

And so even with justice served, it is another sad and embarrassing day for Illinois, no cause for celebration. The state government Blagojevich left behind remains in shambles. Illinois is synonymous with "pay to play" politics. Four former governors have been convicted - one for crimes committed after he left office - in less than four decades. Blagojevich's immediate predecessor, George Ryan, sits in jail now. For all practical purposes this same editorial could be recycled indefinitely. One would like to think they'd get the message. Don't hold your breath.

Peoria, Ill., Journal Star

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